CONTRACT SUIT NAMES VALENCIA FIRM.Byline: Tom Bemis Bloomberg Business News A Bay Area medical equipment manufacturer has sued five companies, including one in Valencia, in a dispute over lucrative third-party contracts to service equipment it makes to treat cancer. Varian Associates Varian Associates was a company founded in 1948 by Russell H. and Sigurd F. Varian, William Webster Hansen, and Edward Ginzton to sell the klystron, the first tube which could generate electromagnetic waves at microwave frequencies, and other electromagnetic equipment. Inc., based in Palo Alto Palo Alto, city, California Palo Alto (păl`ō ăl`tō), city (1990 pop. 55,900), Santa Clara co., W Calif.; inc. 1894. Although primarily residential, Palo Alto has aerospace, electronics, and advanced research industries. , sued the privately held independent service operators in U.S. District Court late Wednesday. The dispute centers on contracts worth as much as $80,000 a year to service the machines known as medical linear accelerators linear accelerator: see particle accelerator. linear accelerator or linac Type of particle accelerator that imparts a series of relatively small increases in energy to subatomic particles as they pass through a sequence of for hospitals and medical centers that own them, said Garry Angelotti, president of Valencia Technical Services in Valencia, one of the defendants. ``They want to basically force us out of the business,'' Angelotti said. Varian changed its parts policy in April to make it harder for independent service companies to obtain spare parts Spare parts, also referred to as Service Parts is a term used to indicate extra parts available and in proximity to the mechanical item, such as a automobile, boat, engine, for which they might be used. Spare parts are also called “spares. for the machines, he said. The move would allow Varian to increase its 70 percent share of the service market for the machines, according to according to prep. 1. As stated or indicated by; on the authority of: according to historians. 2. In keeping with: according to instructions. 3. Angelotti. Varian denied its parts policy is an attempt to gain market share. Joseph Phair, Varian's general counsel, said the policy would free Varian from having to maintain inventories for its competitors. ``There's no reason for Varian to bear that (cost) for them,'' he said. Varian attempted to work out a compromise with the service companies, Phair said. ``Their proposals were that we simply drop the policy, which we can't do.'' He said the policy will be delayed until at least August, to give a judge time to rule on the suit. The suit seeks a court ruling that Varian's parts sales practices are legal and an injunction barring the independent service operators from filing any suits against Varian over its policy. Last year Eastman Kodak was ordered to pay $72 million in damages after a jury found it engaged in anti-competitive practices Anti-competitive practices are business or government practices that prevent and/or reduce competition in a market (see restraint of trade). Anti-competitive practices can include: Varian is represented by the same San Francisco San Francisco (săn frănsĭs`kō), city (1990 pop. 723,959), coextensive with San Francisco co., W Calif., on the tip of a peninsula between the Pacific Ocean and San Francisco Bay, which are connected by the strait known as the Golden law firm that represented Kodak. Varian's shares fell 2 to 50-5/8. |
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